Ngige said the government could not immediately attend to the wage increase demands of the workers due to a cash crunch and revenue shortage.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has declared that the government will speak on salary increase for Nigerian workers in 2023.
Nigerians will elect new leaders in February 2023, as the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will vacate office on May 29.
The Buhari regime has been characterised with high inflation, currently at a record 21.47 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, leading to a steady decline of the naira and a clamour of workers for pay.
According to the Minister, who spoke after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on existing industrial disputes, condition of workers and rising unemployment in the country, said the government is already looking into the demands of the workers and “hopefully, within available resources, the government can do something within the coming year.”
He said: “First and foremost, we looked at the employment situation in the country, what we have achieved and what we have not achieved,” he said, adding that “employment is high and various policies were at variance and I have to tell him the successful ones we have.”
The Minister said the government was also looking at the industrial dispute with the university workers, alongside other unresolved industrial disputes include disputes with the association of medical doctors, resident doctors and other health workers under the Joint Health Sector Union Workers (JOHESU).
Speaking further, Ngige said the government could not immediately attend to the wage increase demands of the workers due to a cash crunch and revenue shortage.
He said: “In the private sector, the private sector employers have managed their affairs better, maybe, because their finances and its management is within their very audit and they could control it, they could do collecting bargaining very easily with their workers.
“In the banking sector, food, beverages and finance insurance are everywhere. So there is calm there. We didn’t have the desired calmness on the government’s side because of the government’s finances.”
He added that the review is being carried out by the Presidential Committee on Salaries co-chaired by the Finance Ministry and co-chaired by him, in collaboration with the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission.
Ngige further disclosed that the government will make a pronouncement on the issue in the new year (2023).
He said: “The Presidential Committee on Salaries is working hand-in-hand with the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission. The commission is mandated by the Act establishing them to fix salaries, wages, and emoluments in not only the public service.
“They have the matrix to do the evaluation, they are working with the Presidential Committee on Salaries chaired by the Finance Ministry and I’m the co-chair to look at the demand of the workers. Outside this, I said discussions on that evaluation are going.”